Two views of water

I have been looking at a lot of water lately as I painted at different yacht clubs and marinas for the past few weeks. I find that I often overwork the water and it loses its freshness. One of the reasons I didn’t post my first sketch from yesterday was that I messed up the water by painting a big area with a wash that was too dry (there’s nothing worse than dry-looking water!). Today I decided to tackle it head-on by choosing a spot at the Baie d’Urfé Town Hall where I faced the pond in the foreground and the lake in the distance. Of course I placed my chair carefully so as not to incur the wrath of the red-winged blackbird who tried to peck out my eyes last week. And then I spent a good long time just looking at the colours and the values of both the lake and the pond.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

10 Comments on “Two views of water”

Hi Shari, Lovely water – we were there a few weeks ago with the plein air group and were rained out, unfortunately! – You’ve captured the water in the pond beautifully – as well as the distant lake – lovely! Helen (I’ll be out of touch for a while – having a hip replacement on Tuesday next) Maybe try and do some sketches whilst in the hospital!!!

I saw that Baie d’Urfé was on the list but didn’t remember what the date was. It is quite an amazing pond, isn’t it? I noticed that there are two levels with a little stream in between. I hope your surgery goes well Helen. Good luck.

The looking time paid off… such interesting water and reflections in the foreground contrasting with the nicely understated lake in the background!
But, why is it that you don’t like using masking fluid? With the grasses on the edge of the pond, this would seem like a perfect subject for it. Is it just that drying time doesn’t fit into your speed painting technique?

Masking fluid takes a long time to dry, it ruins the brush you use to put it on and water pools around it leaving an unpleasant ring on the perimeter. Can you tell I don’t like it? I am just so used to painting around the whites.
In this painting I didn’t want any whites in the grasses. I wanted to lightest areas to be in the pond so it wouldn’t have worked anyway.